It seems that the during the pandemic, the consumption of videos has risen. Most are locked at home and watching youtube can be a good source of entertainment. With the availability of smartphones and internet, publish a video online is a lot easier compared back in the 90s when you need a video camera and other authoring tools. With the popularity of vlogs, it is so familiar that people who have phones and access to internet knows it. Vlogs also become source of income to those who were able to decipher how it really works. For my case, I use it as a video editing portfolio to catch clients.

But honestly, I do vlogs because I really want to to shoot videos when I was a teen. I remember my classmate who have a video camera. He got one because his father works in the Middle East and they can afford those leisureable stuffs. How I envied him. I thing shooting videos is really cool. When I got my DSLR, photography bores me. I tried to shoot videos but they don’t look cool. It is like we were always stuck in street photography. Then by the time of pandemic, I saw lots of vlogs about painting. And it’s the coolest. You will learn to paint and shoot videos. Vlogging has pushed me down to the rabbit hole. I go beyond painting and even tried travel vlogs. I bought myself a GoPro 9 which I would say worth buying.

With my obsession to vlogging, I even studied Search Engine Optimization…. AGAIN since I was doing it back in 2008. And it has been a year since I took vlogging seriously. I was able to get some too through vlogging. In Youtube I have now 255/1000 subscribers which means I haver reached 25% of the roadmap to monetize my channel. Good thing there is Youtube Shorts and that I can get subscribers organically. Sometimes it is a bit exhausting to do vlogs. But I know I will reach my goal someday.

When you are starting a vlog, it is really confusing to have a niche. You will realize that you have so many things to do in a day. You can do vlog about food that you eat, items you purchased, your work, your hobbies and even your opinions. And if you keep on posting videos like this, your audience will be confused on what you are doing. Probably the algorithm too. You want to be just like any famous vloggers. Although sometimes I really do not why am I vlogging. Until there came this comment from a kid who said he likes “ALL” my drawings and even compared his drawings as a beginner. It really touched me. Somehow I found the true value of vlogging that it also guides other people. In response to this kid, I made some guidelines on how I prepare my drawings before I do the actual painting. In Tiktok where I am also building a channel, there are teens who follow me and save my videos as favorites. Probably they are looking for inspirations and guidelines. You see these kids are dreaming to become a successful artist someday. I know how hard it is to get into this kind of profession and I am very lucky to get into this field. You need tools to buy, you need to learn and spend a lot of time studying graphics, painting and shooting and editing videos. Audio and scriptwriting are also challenging. If you keep on thinking about the monetary value it will bring, you will be exhausted. But if you think what value can it give to others, things will be lighter and you can have a sense of direction. As what I have always heard form my favorite FM station back in the 90s – NU107, you are as strong as your purpose. So we have have to ask ourself, what is the true value of what we are doing.